Beyond Mars Crimson Fleet

BEYOND MARS – CRIMSON
FLEET

by

R. G. RISCH

SMASHWORDS
EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

R. G. Risch on
Smashwords

Beyond Mars – Crimson
Fleet

Copyright © 2010 by Richard
Gustav Risch

All rights reserved. Without
limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise)
without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner
and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either
the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners
of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have
been used without permission. The publication/use of these
trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the
trademark owners.

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* * * * *

This book is dedicated to
both my late mother and father, who gave me more love,
understanding, and help than I ever deserved. May they both rest in
eternal peace.

Beyond
Mars Crimson Fleet
is an action-packed
thriller and “shoot’em up” from cover to cover. It is not the
farfetched fantasy of Stars Wars, nor the idealistic science
fiction realm of Star Trek. Instead, it is a stark realistic view
of history that may yet be.
Beyond Mars –
Crimson Fleet
was written to not only
entertain, but to provide the reader with a dark and thought
provoking glimpse of what our world is possibly turning into and
hopefully ensures that this future—never happens!

* * * * *

BEYOND MARS – CRIMSON
FLEET

* * * * *

PROLOGUE:

A Chronicle of Things That May Yet
Be

“Conflict is created by two conditions: the evil that
is sanctioned by the corrupted—and the sacrifice borne by upright
men and women who chose to destroy it.”

—Adam
Turquine
(
Martian
novelist - 2143
)

At the dawn of the 21st
Century, mankind boldly entered a new, but dangerous age. For the
most part, war and large-scale conflicts were rendered to the
history of the past as nations co-operated in an effort to
stabilize their own sovereign states by joining the emerging global
economy. With the enticement of new technologies and nearly
unlimited credit, every nation hastened without forethought to the
mesmerizing promise of a better tomorrow.

As a result, unimaginable
creations seeded the world with their commonness. Even between
political opponents and former enemies, advanced scientific
information and devices flowed freely and propagated in
immeasurable abundance.

International corporations
spearheaded this drive for this newfound fellowship of commerce.
They laced the world together in networks of digitized
communication, while circumventing many social and ethic barriers
as they attempted to fill every country’s desire to modernize and
improve conditions for its citizens.

However,
it falsely became a golden era of peace. For beneath this
team spirit
, many business
entities in reality cared little for the moral and ethical dilemmas
associated with their technological wares. They were more concerned
with their profit margins and the need to increase their market
share. In their arrogance and greed, these businessmen forgot that
the universe is not a void, and any action taken always has its
consequences.

Their self-serving lust
for money and personal success unexpectedly opened a door of
opportunity to something else, something primal that lingered in
the hearts of ruthless men of baneful ideologies that preached the
doctrine of hate. For these servants of evil not only desired
power, but the total extermination of all of their professed
enemies. To this end these canonical companions of darkness
diligently worked. And from their devious minds that knew only the
vilest of thoughts and the most unspeakable demons of the
imagination, drew their blueprint of terror and destruction against
the world.

Over time, the once
harmless and beneficial devices were methodically scrutinized and
legally plundered for their technology under auspices of universal
trade agreements. The technology was then redesigned and married to
deadly chemicals, high explosives, synthesized diseases, and
generators of nuclear fission. They became what they were never
meant to be: the physical embodiment of cataclysmic
nightmares.

In not-so-hidden
workshops, laboratories, and factories, the apparatus of genocide
grew in alarming numbers. The world at large, however, cared not as
it cast its eyes away from the truth, daring not to confront,
offend, or provoke. This pacifism of refusing to face the obvious
was then perceived as fear, furthering the appetites of the agents
of death.

Still these artisans of
apocalypse waited, for the moment of “ecclesiastical and genetic
cleansing” was not yet right. But their patience was soon rewarded.
An economic crisis and upheaval that threatened to topple even the
richest and most powerful nations of the Earth became the finger
that pulled the trigger.

The bubble of unlimited credit had burst to the
pinhead of financial fraud, bad lending practices, and soaring
deficits created from crippling taxes and wasteful government
spending to the transfer of well-paying jobs to overseas
sweatshops. The illusion of financial stability dissolved at an
unbelievable pace for both businesses and individual citizens alike
as markets plunged into monetary depths not seen since the Great
Depression of the 1930’s. Banks failed, savings were wiped out,
unemployment rose high into double-digits, and more than a quarter
of the people became homeless or lived in tent cities with
government welfare and charities as their only means of
support.

From ever tightening
government control that descended into brutality, hunger,
joblessness, and fear, the chaos was magnified and painted in
rivers of blood on global streets from massive and frenzied riots
across the Earth. Yet, still the reckless avarice of speculation
persisted, for the greedy lusted fervently for more! Ultimately,
food prices were driven well beyond the brink of affordability—and
started the final countdown to Armageddon. And when the economic
upheaval was at its bleakest point, the iniquitous mutations of
science were finally unleashed with such savagery that they swiftly
ravaged the Earth, heralding another world war.

The war, although short,
was a bloody one. The weapons of mass destruction remorselessly
struck their targets with such speed that only the fervor of
fanatical malevolence could summon it. Country after country
rapidly collapsed as their infrastructures disintegrated from the
holocaust. But the cost in human life was far greater.

Many people died horrific
and agonizing deaths at the hands of merciless killers or through
the resulting pestilence and plagues that were spread in their
wake. The number of dead was so countless that they were stacked
like cordwood and unceremoniously heaped into mass graves. But the
apocalypse was overwhelming, and many more bodies were just left to
rot where they had fallen. A habitat for maggots and swarms of
flies became the Earth as the wages of conflict afflicted the
planet, choking the very air and essence of life in its
bitterness.

In the end, however, the
agents of death were destroyed and their scourge smashed upon the
rocks of justice and resolve. For civilized men and women of
adamant courage once more rose up and relentlessly struck down the
modern-day barbarians in unforgiving retribution. And as the last
echoes of war faded into memory, it was hoped that evil was now and
forever vanquished from the human race.

The world was in total ruins, the
final tally of the devastation, but still it endured. It drew
closer together as it began to rebuild itself once more. In the
long process, many came to agree that a
New World Order
was needed to
replace the old world, one that respected individual rights, and
eliminated the ancient hatreds and social differences.

In the years that followed,
mankind struggled towards a lasting peace. Ultimately, global
unification and a one-world government became a reality, ushering
in the end to all sovereign nations.

With this new era of peace
and prosperity, the light of humanity seemed to shine more brightly
than throughout all of its previous history. Greater leaps in
technology abounded, allowing the human race to reach out further
into space than it ever had before. Finally in the year 2041, the
first human footprint was placed on the surface of the planet
Mars.

Within a decade of the
first landing, several bases were established on the distant world,
opening the path for colonization. To further mankind’s presence on
the planet, the newly formed Earth government called out to its
vast population for volunteers to settle the red world. This was by
no means an easy task, for Martian life would be hard for all those
who dared to choose it. But they came anyway, the loners, the
outcast, the discontented, people looking to make a better life;
all came to the planet Mars. By the year 2100, a proud colony of
rugged and self-reliant individuals flourished and prospered on the
distant planet.

However, the timeless winds
of dissolution once again began to vex the human race. Not even the
most intellectual or wisest among them realized that such winds
again blew through their solar system, with the foulest emanating
from the Earth itself.

From the umbra of Earth's technological society, an
invisible evil crept its way into the heart of the planet,
contaminating everything it touched, defiling man and nature alike.
So great was its influence that the Earth government itself
eventually took on a darker, more sinister tone. Because global
unification was achieved at the expense of unconditional
disarmament, there was no one to oppose the will of the Earth's
central government.

The
Martians watched suspiciously as
The
New World Order
tightened
its grip upon the lives of the people of the planet Earth. Slowly,
the Earth's population was gradually indoctrinated into a state of
complacency, rhetoric, and submission.

As
The
Order
voyaged deeper into space, it began
to spread itself among distant worlds. This required massive
resources, and
The Order
then turned to its closest and most productive
colony—Mars.

At first, the demands of
the Earth's central government were reasonable and drew little
attention or interest. But over time, the Martians’ resources were
systematically pillaged as their energies were spent on compelled
labors. A new slavery arose, backed as always by intimidation and
force. The Earth government justified this indignity by challenging
the status of Martian citizenship within the Earth's dominion. The
Martians became regarded as dependants of the Earth, removed from
the prominence of full citizenship. But in the Martians' rough and
simplistic view of life, this lie bred the seeds of
insurrection.